Wire spring for cushioned seats



Jan. 12, 1943. w. H. NEELY WIRE SPRING FOR CUSHIONED SEATS 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 16, 1939 INVENTOR. WILL/HM H. NEE'LY A RNEY.

Patented Jan. 12, 1943 WIRE SPRING FOR CUSHIONED SEATS William H. Neely,Cleveland, Ohio, assignor, by

mesne assignments, to John C. Lincoln, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Application June 16, 1939, Serial No. 279,534

6 Claims. (Cl. 155-479) This invention relates to fiat springs ofsinuous or similar shape to be used for seats of upholstered furniture,such as davenports and. chairs, necessitating substantial verticalshifting of the seating surface and yielding of said surface forcomfortable rest and complete relaxation of persons seated thereon.Presently used fiat springs designed for such purpose embody an upperaxially compressible and extensible seating portion made of sinuouslyshaped wire, a yielding, rearwardly and downwardly extending supportingmeans of substantial length arranged at the front end of the seatingportion, and a down wardly extending supporting means at the rear end ofthe seating portion. The supporting means for the seating portion areintegrally formed with the seating portion or rigidly connected to theends thereof, so as to effect upwardly directed bulging and bendingstresses and therewith increased resistance of the seating portionagainst downward bulging when a load is placed upon the seating portion.In these It is the primary object of this invention to overcome theabove referred to deficiencies in presently used fiat springs byproviding a flat spring of the type referred to above with rearsupporting means of V-shaped form having its lever arms connected witheach other by means of a link, so as to permit of proper downward yieldof the rear end of the seating portion of the spring when loaded andsimultaneously prohibit excessive forward movement of such seatingportion.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a flat spring of thetype referred to above with rear supporting means of v-shaped formhaving its levers at the vertex of the v yieldingly connected with eachother and having their outer ends connected to each other by means of alink, so as to permit of yielding deformation of said supporting meanswhen the spring is loaded to effect proper downward yield of the rearend of the seating portion and simultaneously limit the forward movementof the seating portion.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a flat spring ofthe type referred to above with rear supporting means of V-shaped formhaving its levers at the vertex of the V yieldingly connected with eachother and their outer ends linked together by means of a' link, the rearsupporting means including in one lever of its lever arm yielding meanspermitting yielding deformation of the supporting means when the springis loaded to effect proper downward yield of the rear end of the seatingportion and limitation of its forward movement.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a spring ofthe type referred to with a V-shaped yielding rear supporting meansincluding a U-shaped link interconnecting the ends of the lever arms ofsaid supporting means thus prohibiting lateral swaying action of saidsupporting means with respect to the seating portion of the spring.

In addition, the invention has certain other marked superiorities whichradically distinguish it from presently known structures. Theseimprovements embodying certain novel features of construction are moreclearly set forth in the following specification and the appendedclaims; and a preferred embodiment of the invention is hereinafter shownwith reference to the accompanying drawings forming part of thespecification.

In the drawings: I

"Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view, partly in elevation, through afurniture frame spring structure having fiat springs according to theinvention mounted thereon.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view through the furniture frame springstructure shown in Fig. 1, the section being taken on line22 of saidfigure.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a fiat spring of sinuous shape made inaccordance with the invention.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary side view of the rear end portion ofthe spring shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, showing the link member disconnectedfrom one of the arms of the V-shaped rear supporting means of thespring.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of the link member coupling thelever arms of the vshaped supporting means with each other.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing the rear supporting meansof the spring while clamping and supporting an edge wire.

Referring now more particularly to the. drawings reference numeral 2represents the frame of a chair embodying at its bottom portion arectangular open frame 3, the front, rear and side rails 4, 5 and 6 ofwhich are secured to the front and rear legs I and 3 of frame 2 of thechair. The open frame 3 supports on its front and rear rails 4 and 5 a.plurality of fiat springs 9 made of sinuously-shaped spring steel wire,the loops I of which extend substantially parallel to each other, so asto form seating portions II. Preferably, as shown, these seatingportions are curved downwardly prior to the attachment of the springs toa frame, all as hereinafter more fully described and explained.

downwardly extending lever arm I5, integrally extended from the frontend of the seating portion II, a substantially straight, forwardlyextended, integral arm I3, yieldingly connected with arm I by means of acoil I1, and integral attachment means I8 on the free end of arm i6 andcoupled therewith by means of a coil I9 of less stiffness than coil Ill.The integral attachment means I8 on arm I6 embody a rectangular wireportion extended from the top of coil l9 and. an integral, substantiallyU- shaped resting and attachment member 2| formed by bending the end ofthe rectangular wire portion 20 to a U, arranged in a planerectangularly related to the end of said wire portion and furtherbending of the wire at the end of the U downwardly, so as to provide adoublelegged-resting and attachment member adapted to engage the top andthe inner wall of front rail 4 to which front supporting portion I2 maybe secured by means of staples 22. The rear supporting portion l4 of thespring which is integrally formed with the seating portion II andconsists of a V-shaped yielding lever system having integral levers 23and 24 shorter in length than lever arm I5. Levers 23 and 24 areyieldingly connected with, each other by a coil 25. As shown, lever 23extends from the rear end of seating portion II, and lever 24 extendsfrom the free end of coil 25. The lever 24 carries integral attachmentmeans 26 yieldingly connected with said lever by means of a coil 21.Preferably, integral attachment means 26 are formed by bending the freeend of coil 21 to a U-shaped seat 28 adapted to be hooked upon andattached to rear rail 5 of frame 3. This seat embodies two integral,spaced, parallel U-shaped portions 29 and 30 which permit of resting andattachment of the spring on rear rail 5 at spaced points and prohibittilting of the spring at its rear end. Levers 23 and 24 which form theV-shaped yielding lever system of rear supporting portion I4 are forcedtoward each other and connected with each other bya link member 32. Thuslever 24 embodies in the web of U-shaped seat 28 struckup portions 30'which pivotally support the cross rod 3| of the substantially U-shapedlink member 32 the arms 33 of which are provided at their free ends withhook members 34 and adapted to be hooked upon and slidably engaged withthe last coil 35 of seating portion II. It should be noted, that linkmember 32, when engaged with U-shaped seat 23 and coil 35, effects atensioning of the V-shaped lever system (see Figs. 4 and 5) and that,when the spring is attached to frame 3, it is in upwardly inclinedposition so as to permit of downward movement and slight forwardmovement of the spring under load. Link member 32 furthermore, inco-operation with coils 25 and 21 of the V-shaped lever system, effectssufllcient resistance of the lever system against excessive forwardmovement of the rear end of the seating'portion II while simultaneouslypermitting suflicient downward movement of said rear end, so as topermit of the spring being sufficiently moved downwardly for efiectingacomfortable seat. In addition, lever' arm I5 will effect longitudinalstretching of the seating portion II of the spring under load andprovide the necessary resistance against excessive downward bulging ofthe seating portion.

Link member 32 provides a simple and economical means for supporting anedge wire 36 at the rear end of the seating portion II, as will best beunderstood from an inspection of Figs. 2 and 7, in which figures edgewire 36 is yieldingly clamped between wire 31 of coil 35 and hookmembers 34 of the link member 32, hook members 34 for such purpose beingprovided with elongated end portions 39 facilitating the desiredattachment and support of edge wire 36.

Preferably the seating portions II of springs 9 in their unassembledcondition have concavely curved seating portions (see Figure 3) to bringabout a reduction in the rate of bulging stresses effected in springswith substantially straight seating portions when loads are placedthereon. In addition, the springs embody sharp bends 40 adjacent to ornear. the rear ends of their seating portion II, which bends preventbuilding up of excessively hard areas in the springs at these particularpoints.

In the assembly of a spring seat structure the thus constructed springsare mounted and attached with their rear supporting means on rear rail 5of frame 3, so that their seating portions II extend upwardly and thenseating portions II are forced downwardly until their front supportingportions I2 have their attachment means I3 resting on and rigidlysecured to front rail 4. The thus mounted springs are then interlockedwith each other by U-shaped edge wires 4| and 36 or in any othercustomary manner interengaged with each other to form a continuousyielding seating surface.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

l. A wire spring for seat structures comprising a horizontallycorrugated seating portion, an integral, rearwardly and downwardlyextending yielding, V-shaped supporting means extending from the frontend of said seating portion, an integral, substantially V-shapedyielding supporting means at the rear end of said seating portion, anintegral, U-shaped attachment means at the end of said last supportingmeans, and link means connecting the rear end of said seating portionwith the web portion of said U-shaped attachment means.

2. A wire spring for seat structures as described in claim 1, whereinsaid U-shaped attachment means embody U-shaped portions spaced from eachother and integrally connected at their ends with each other forsupporting said spring at spaced areas and prohibiting its tiltinglateral stresses.

3. In a wire spring for seat structures as described'in claim 1 bearingmeans in said attachment means to pivotally connect said link means withsaid attachment means.

4. In a wire spring for seat structures a horizontally corrugatedseating portion, means for supporting the front end of said seatingportion, and resilient, substantially triangularly shaped supportingmeans integrally extendedfrom the rear end of said seating portion, saidrear supporting means including a V-shaped portion having resilientarms, and link means connecting the outer end portions of said arms witheach other and holding same in tensioned relation with respect to eachother.

5. In a wire spring for seat structures a horizontally corrugatedseating portion, means for supporting the front end of said seatingportion, and resilient, substantially angularly shaped supporting meansintegrally extended from the rear end of said seating portion, said rearsupporting means including a V-shaped portion having arms, and linkmeans connecting the outer end portions of said arms with each other andholding same in tensioned relation with respect to each other, one ofsaid arms including means to aci1-- itate bending of this arm and permitor deformation of the shape of the angularly shaped supporting meanswhen said spring is mounted on a frame and loaded.

6. A seat structure comprising a frame, a plurality of wire springsmounted on said frame crosswise thereof, and an edge wire supported bysaid springs, said springs each including a seating portion andangularly shaped supporting means integrally extended from the rear endof said seating portion, and said supporting means including a V-shapedportion having arms, and link means connecting the outer end portions ofsaid arms with each other and holding same in tensioned relation withrespect to each other, said link means including elongated hook meansengaging said edge wire and hooked upon the outer end portions of theinner arm of said V- shaped portion to force the edge wire into contactwith the outer end portion of said inner arm,

WILLIAM H. NEELY.

